Category: RateTiger

Assuming that you are already distributing your hotel rates and availability on multiple online travel agents, we will delve straight into some top tips that you can utilize to boost your online visibility and improve booking revenue. The ground rule for working with any distribution/sales channel is to ensure that you keep your hotel listing up-to-date to give a true picture to the guests. That said, here are some simple tips that can further increase your hotel’s presence on these important channels.

1. Regular Update of Content

Reinforcing the ground rule again – it is super important to keep your hotel listing updated and attractive. The language used to define your hotel amenities should be simple and fluid. Ensure that you have posted recent photos of the hotel’s different segments – lobby, façade, rooms, restaurants, banquet, swimming pool, gym etc. As they say, a picture speaks a thousand words – travelers like to know how the place looks before they decide if they wish to stay there. Details of room amenities, location, direction to reach, nearby attractions as well as hotel policies should be accurately displayed in relevant sections of the listing.

This builds customer trust and helps them make informed decisions. Further, it helps bring up your hotel on relevant search results when guests use filters on OTAs. For example, if your hotel is pet friendly, ensure that you mention it in your listing so that travelers who are looking to bring their pet can consider your property amongst others. Further, if any hotel policy changes, it is important to update them on OTAs. For example, if your hotel was a no-smoking property earlier, but if you have recently added smoking rooms, then you need to showcase that on the OTAs, so that people looking for such rooms will keep your hotel in consideration. These updates may seem minor but goes a long way to ensure that your hotel can be found easily depending on the visitor’s search behavior.

Further, to increase visibility in the search results, coordinate with the Market Manager of different OTAs you work with, to add relevant keywords and meta tags to highlight special offers and promotions. Depending on the OTA policy, most of the market managers allow you to submit the tag copy to emphasize your hotel’s new offering, renovation, festive discount etc.

2. Ensure Rate Parity

The second most important tip is to ensure you keep your rates in parity across different distribution platforms. Travelers like to shop around when looking to book accommodation. When they see different rates for your property on different sites, it somehow impacts their trust factor. Further, OTAs tend to give you better ranking to hotels that have no rate parity issues as it helps maintain rate integrity for their channel as well. Additionally, when your rates are in parity, you can push your presence on meta-search sites to drive more direct bookings.

3. Targeted Advertising

Making updates and tweaks to your hotel listing on OTAs is a crucial part, but to give an additional boost to your property’s visibility, you can invest in targeted ad by bidding for top spots in OTA search results. Most OTAs offer this capability today and this is an easy way to increase exposure in these channels. However, it is best to make it goal oriented – pushing these ads for either specific promotional campaigns or to push visibility in certain markets during off-peak period.

Ads such as Expedia TravelAds or Sponsored Search on Travelocity and Orbitz can be effective if used correctly and it also helps improve the organic search ranking for the hotel on these OTAs.

4. Sell Last Room Availability

One of the core concepts of revenue management focuses around the fact that hotels should spread out their inventory on not rely on just 1 or 2 channels. While, the brand website, consortia and wholesalers are all important sales channels along with OTAs, there are times when you need to look at specialized or niche channels to make sure you sell off distressed inventory, up to the last available room. Channels like HotelTonight helps hotels sell inventory in a 24-hour window as that is the core concept of the channel. The channels user base are mostly travelers that are looking for last minute deals and hence this can be a good platform to dispose distressed inventory. Further, channels like HotelByDay offer room booking by the number of hours thus raising the revenue potential of fixed inventory. As a hotelier, it is good to know about new distribution options and try them to explore new revenue potential.

5. Rapport building with OTA Market Managers

You can only do what is in your control with regards your OTA listing. However, if you maintain a great rapport with the OTA Market Managers, that can go a long way in helping you maximise your hotel presence. People like to do business with people they like – hence the human element is very critical in most businesses. Being in the good books of the OTA Market Managers, communicating with them regularly, inviting them for your hotel events etc. can help create strategic business relations and have a positive impact for your business. The market managers keep a tab on the pulse of booking patterns and trends and can be very resourceful, it all comes down to your strategy and skills to bring out the results.

It’s time to put these tips and tricks into practice and see how you can leverage them. A good presence across OTAs will have a billboard effect, which not only will improve OTA bookings but will also positively impact direct bookings from your brand website.

If you need help with managing OTAs for your hotel, set up an appointment with one of our Connectivity Advisors today – https://bit.ly/2HiEzJp.

Located at the outskirts of Dublin, Carton House is one of Ireland’s most historic Palladian houses, offering 2 world-class 18-hole championship golf courses and a luxury spa. The company has been leveraging eRevMax’s seamless connection with global and regional OTAs to update rates and availability across sales channels and receive reservations in real-time. RateTiger’s integration with leading internet booking engines and PMS’s has ensured inventory is always in sync with bookings, thereby minimizing chances of overbookings.

“The Account Management Team has been extremely professional and easy to deal with and always available which has been great. We look forward to continuing our working relationship over the coming years,” said Fiona Mullin, Director of Revenue Management, Carton House.

“As a technology partner, we are committed to empower the hotel with efficient rate distribution across their online distribution channels. The single sign-on dashboard simplifies the operations, improves efficiencies and gives hoteliers time to focus on strategy,” said Alin Lazar, Director of Sales , EMEA, eRevMax.

Hotel connectivity expert eRevMax has completed 2-way integration with ezCloud, one of the leading PMS providers in South East Asia. Mutual hotel customers can now get the benefit of automatic distribution of availability and rate to third party online booking sites whenever they are updated in the property management system and receive reservations from OTAs seamlessly.

Ho Chi Minh City based ezCloud PMS is a popular property management system catering to 3000 hotels across Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia and recommended by leading hotel chains in the region. eRevMax’s distribution solutions are used by over 9000 hotels to update availabilities and rates across their booking channels and immediately update inventory across those channels when a booking is made.

“Real time OTA channel connection is a key feature of ezCloud PMS. eRevMax Channel Ecosystem offers the largest number of two-way interfaces, and hence will provide our hotel customers the ability to expand their distribution portfolio to reach out to larger audience,” said Nguyen Hoang Duong – CEO, ezCloud Technologies.

“This interface complements our continuous efforts to offer our hotel customers superior connectivity between their technology solutions and OTAs. South East Asia has been one of our growth regions, we are connected with some of the biggest OTAs and PMS providers in the region. Being a preferred connectivity partner of ezCloud will further improve our portfolio. A greater number of hotels can now leverage the benefits of our Ecosystem while streamlining their distribution efforts,” said Ashis Saha, SVP – Project Management, eRevMax.

Leaders lead by example – whether its work or fun! That’s our motto as we celebrate festivals with equal fervor as that of a new product or feature release.

Last month we celebrated the auspicious festival of Navratra to welcome Goddess Durga to her abode on Earth. And what better way than to decorate the office with innovative themed ‘mini-pandals’ created by multiple departments in the hope that the Goddess might just grace them with her presence virtually, and of course, the hope to win the Best Departmental Decoration prize!

Various judging criteria were put in place with points being meted out for eco-friendliness, minimum work space occupied, minimum investment of productive office time (so work doesn’t get hampered) and innovation (to promote one of our core values). And guess who took the trophies home!

First Runners Up – RTS Monitoring and Verification Team, their décor theme being – “10 Weapons of Ma Durga indicating top 10 channels and partners, her 4 children depicting eRevMax teams in accordance with their work flow.”

Second Runners Up – LiveOS and Design Team, their theme being – “Four forms of Durga representing our products, compliments from clients, fighting with competitors and wealth.” The team got special mention for “Least investment of time” in preparing their bay décor.

While the office looked nice and colorful, the members too turned up in their ethnic best. Ladies draped in beautiful sarees, dazzled the floor, while men looked dapper in traditional kurta-pyjama sets.

There were fun games and activities like Conch Shell blowing, Dhunuchi Naach and Dhaak beating competitions to complement the celebrations, coupled with delicious lunch which added to the merriment!

Kudos to the HR & Admin teams for organizing such a fun-filled day where everything was so well organized! Overall, a fun day with colleagues that helped create a lot of new memories 😊

May the Goddess keep her blessings on eRevMax always and may we shine as bright as ever!

Ubud, in the uplands of Bali, is a popular destination for luxury travelers. Black Penny Villas, with its 10 units, have been leveraging eRevMax’s XML connectivity with global and regional OTAs, and niche channels. Hosted on LiveOS, RateTiger’s pool inventory model allows the revenue management team to continuously distribute its live rates and inventory to multiple booking channels and deliver updates back into its property management system (PMS) in real-time, without worrying about overbooking. The in-built booking trends and business analytics data combined with competitor benchmarking reports give them key market insights to make informed decision.

“We have been extensively using the Benchmarking Report to maintain parity rate across all OTAs. This coupled with real-time rate and availability on sales channels have resulted in better room production,” said Dewa Buda, Corporate Ecommerce Manager, Black Penny Villas Ubud.

“This recommendation is a testimony to our commitment to make online distribution management easy for hoteliers. We have invested in building stable connectivity with over 400 OTAs and technology providers. Our solutions simplify operations, improve efficiencies and give hoteliers time to focus on strategy,” said Mohnish Singh, Regional Sales Manager, eRevMax.

Meet our connectivity expert in your region – contact us today at marketing@erevmax.com to set up a meeting.

In five minutes or less, keep track of the most important news of the week, curated just for you. We present to you hand – picked news on latest industry perspectives and some general updates. Read on!!

eRevMax has completed integration with Arion Hospitality Solutions, a leading Property Management System provider in South America. The strategic partnership between the two leading hospitality software specialists will allow hotels to manage their revenue and online distribution with only one application.

India is now the fastest growing outbound travel market in the world, second only to China. The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) estimates that India will account for over 50 million outbound tourists by 2022, making India a USD 45 billion outbound spend market.

TrustYou, the world’s largest guest feedback platform, released a comprehensive analysis of regional and global hotel review topics. Through its continuous effort in studying and leveraging guest feedback, TrustYou created this report of the different impact scores that affect the performance and reputation of global hotels, as well as in the following markets: EMEA, German-speaking countries (DE/AT/CH), US, APAC, Japan.

Every day, new marketing techniques and tools are launched almost every week – which increases the complexity of the marketing sector. Experts have different ideas and opinions about how holidays will be like two or three decades from now. The possibilities are limitless.

Corporate retreats are an integral part to the success of any organization. It is critical to sometimes step aside and relook at strategies and spend some quality time with colleagues outside of the workspace.

It was the Scottish Highlands calling for us this year and our retreat turned out to be the perfect combination of fun, team building and work epiphanies!

Without further ado, here are some glimpses of our Scottish sojourn – as they say, a picture speaks a thousand words!

A little change of scenery is often just what a business needs to invigorate productivity and company culture. Having clear goals and objectives, training and planning where all can be heard, coupled with fun and team bonding activities, are all important factors to create an effective and memorable corporate retreat. Here’s to our team spirit & bonding!

Daan Utsav, also known as Joy of Giving festival is celebrated every year from October 2 to October 8 in India.

eRevMax, under its CSR initiative, has partnered with Kolkata based NGO – Hope KolkataFoundation, to celebrate ‘Daan Utsav’ – an initiative that encourages the joy of giving. Employees of eRevMax have enthusiastically volunteered and contributed generously to help the children of Hope Kolkata Foundation’s Naba Asha home, a center that works closely with street children and aims to provide them food, shelter and education.

“Hope Kolkata Foundation is very pleased to be working with eRevMax for the all-round development of street children in Kolkata. eRevMax is one of the active partners who have taken keen interest in working closely with the kids at our protection homes. The team has been conducting various activities and has wholeheartedly supported us through Daan Utsav,” said representatives from Hope Kolkata Foundation.

This occasion was also a time to celebrate the efforts of people who are often forgotten or neglected but who make a huge difference to our daily lives. eRevMax recognized all its housekeeping, security and other support staff with small token of appreciation for their everyday efforts that keep our office running smoothly like clock-work.

Launched in 2009, Daan Utsav is India’s annual ‘festival of giving’. Celebrated every year, in the week including Gandhi Jayanti (October 2-8), it brings together people across the country to participate in their own ways and give back to the society.

He has done it! Again. On 30 September, Udai Singh Solanki, our CTO and Managing Director – India finished the Great Scottish Run and stunned all of us at eRevMax!

A sports enthusiast, Udai has taken his passion for running and made it an integral part of both his personal and corporate life.

The Great Scottish Run was a major challenge. This was Udai’s first half marathon outside India. With more than 15,000 runners taking part in one of Scotland’s biggest running event, the day began with glorious sunshine. The 13.1-mile journey started in George Square in the heart of Glasgow. The runners had to cross some of the iconic landmarks of the city including using the Kingston Bridge, the Clyde Arc, Nelson’s Monument and Finnieston Crane. And just as the organizers promised, every mile was different.

The bagpipers, live music and drumming bands ensured the runners have a good time all along. “It was fun to finish Great Scottish Run – Half Marathon. The cold weather, wind and some occasional rain shower made for the perfect set up for long run. It was an amazing experience!” said Udai.

Udai has been practicing with a running group in Kolkata to improve his stamina and endurance level.

“Running requires persistence, patience, and hard work, principles vital for successful business as well. It also liberates your mind. These long-distance runs have been meditational for me,” said Udai, who has been encouraging his colleagues to take up fitness and sports seriously.

Just a week before the Scottish run, he completed Damloop by Night 5 English Miles in Amsterdam, where he was attending a business meet.

Team eRevMax says a huge congratulations to Udai. We already can’t wait for next one.

In five minutes or less, keep track of the most important news of the week, curated just for you. We present to you hand – picked news on latest industry perspectives and some general updates. Read on!!

Behind TripAdvisor’s renewed push to inspire travelers beyond just making sales
Already 750 content providers have signed up for TripAdvisor’s new feed of personalized recommendations from friends, social media influencers, and publishers, debuted earlier this month.

Special Report: The online travel sector faces challenges
Benati says: “Europe is a mature market, especially in the UK, in Germany, in Scandinavia. Growth in online travel has plateaued, which calls for more targeting of market share. At 5%-6% a year, online growth is still outpacing growth elsewhere, but it is slowing.

Drive direct bookings even when you’re being undercut
Fixing disparities takes time – and while all the details you need to replicate a disparity can be found in the Disparity Dungeon, getting in touch with OTAs and getting them resolved doesn’t always happen instantly. On those occasions when you are not in parity, there are four options you can use to continue to drive direct bookings.

New Google travel tool tells you when to book your holiday travel
Slowly but surely, Google is expanding its portfolio of travel offerings that now range from hotel- and flight-booking services to trip planning tools. Today, it’s launching yet another set of new travel features that focus on travel planning and hotel bookings.

BridgeStreet Adds Hostels and Vacation Rentals to Biz Travel Platform
When extended stay booking provider BridgeStreet Global Hospitality relaunched its digital platform last year, the company became something of an outlier in the corporate travel space: a mini-online travel agency for business travel that also connected directly with travel managers around the world.